Out
IN left field

: I've had another request
from North America for something that's a bit beyond my knowledge. I guess the
expression has to do with Baseball, but I'd love to know the details. The writer
comes from Canada, but his name sounds French - perhaps he's not interested in
Baseball! Help again please.
: Quote:
: "Here's one that I have not been
able to uncover... "Out of left field" as in "something came out of left field".
I'm curious to know the origin of this saying"

For more discussion search under
"field" in the archives. The way I've heard it: "He's out in left field."

WAY
OUT IN LEFT FIELD - Out of touch, eccentric, odd; also, misguided. This term alludes
to the left field of baseball, and there is some disagreement concerning its origin.
Some writers suggest it comes from the remoteness of left field, but only in very
asymmetrical ballparks is left field more distant than right field. Others suggest
it alludes to the 'wrongness' of left as opposed to the 'rightness' of right.
A correspondent of William Safire's in the "New York Times" said it was an insulting
remark made to those who bought left-field seats in New York's Yankee Stadium
during the years that Babe Ruth played right field, putting them far away from
this outstanding player. Perhaps the most likely theory is that it alludes to
inmates of the Neuropsychiatric Institute, a mental hospital, which was located
behind left field in Chicago's old West Side Park. Hence being told you are 'out
in left field' would mean you were accused of being as peculiar as a mental patient.
In any event, the term has been used figuratively for various kinds of eccentricity
and misguidedness since the first half of the 20th century. John Ciardi also cited
a synonym, 'out in left pickle,' maintaining that 'pickle' was baseball slang
for the outfield. Perhaps it once was, but it is no longer current." "Southpaws
& Sunday Punches and other Sporting Expressions" by Christine Ammer (Penguin Books,
New York, 1993).